Now learn to change your own diapers, please.

Watching a baby learn new things is the most fascinating, rewarding, and entertaining thing. My kids suddenly have so much to say, it’s hard to keep up. The signing (thank you Baby Signing Time dvds) has also taken off. I had no idea they were taking in so much until it started showing in our regular conversation this past month. This new world I’ve entered came so much more quickly than I had anticipated. I know they are definitely old enough to talk and sign, but it’s still a shock to me at how fast they can pick new things up everyday. I was so used to having little babies, I don’t know how I feel about the idea of having (am I really going to say this. . .?) toddlers! Of course watching their eyes light up when they learn something new, or hearing their sweet voices ask for a “ na na na” (banana) (weird that I am now officially in the stage of parenting where I have to quote, then parenthesize everything my kids say), is thrilling to say the least, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this new phase, even if it does mean they’re growing up too fast.

I can tell they LOVE to communicate with us. Here area few language development highlights for each.

Alex:

He’ll say almost anything we ask him to (or that we don’t mean for him to hear). During his turn playing Peek-a-boo, he excitedly said “pit-a-pit-a-pit-a-boo!”

At breakfast, out of the blue he just said “O, P, Q, R”. Interesting choice of letters. Q is pretty fun, I’ll admit.

A couple weeks ago, he signed and said “mo ter ter” ( more crackers). Isn’t that a sentence? We’ll work on adding “please” to that. Though his “please”, looks more like he’s pretending to slit his throat. We’ll work on that too.

Says and signs mommy and daddy perfectly. Love that.

Bennett:

His “2” is hilarious. I didn’t know he could stick his lips out that far. Same with “Q”.

Loves any song, especially when there are accompanying actions (a most recent favorite: The Itsy Bitsy spider.) No matter his mood, if you start any song, he’s a happy kid.

Loves the ABCs as well. While the others like me to start them off, Bennett likes to say “Eh” (A) by himself.

Says “apo” when he sees an apple in one of his books. Again, his rounded lips crack me up every time.

Ruby:

Any time I’m putting in a dvd, she immediately begins saying and signing, “baby, baby, baby. . .” (If you haven’t seen Baby Signing Time, it’s how the show begins.) We might have to get those back from the library.

She also starts singing “Baby Mine”, when we start our lullaby cd before she goes to bed. Can’t wait to hear her sing more songs in the future.

She walks all over the house saying and signing “Toto” (cracker) and is quite proud of herself.

“Sleep” is one of her favorite signs. I wish was as enthusiastic about actually sleeping. (She’s been a bit stubborn lately, probably due to pending molars.)

They all have plenty more words and signs, but you get the idea. They really do learn a lot from each other which I love. I have tried countless times to get a decent video of their letter and number skills, but of course it’s taken weeks. They’d be saying the alphabet almost perfectly, and the moment the camera came on, they seemed to be stricken dumb. Through these few videos, you should get a good idea of how much they know. Notice they do about every other letter/number as they take my cues. They also give each other tips as to what comes next, you’ll see. Though the boys are the stars in these videos, Ruby does know her fair share of letters and numbers, she’s just more selective of when she likes to show off.

Bennett’s half-hearted approach.

Sorry about the oatmeal and bananas smeared everywhere. They choose the most opportune times to perform.

Please excuse our mess. It was the bedtime, and the kids had really torn up the playroom that day.

This was our birthday present to Uncle Matt. (I hope he doesn’t mind me posting it.) They weren’t super cooperative, but still funny. And Ruby finally has something to say for the camera.

And why not include an outtake.

You are probably incredibly tired of hearing me recite the alphabet by now. I know I am. Though I’ll never get tired of here the babies say it. What can I train them to do next?